Less traveled Grand Canyon

[steveandjil]

Hi Folks,

We are experienced National Park visitors. Neither my wife nor I have been to the Grand Canyon for a long time, and we live in Arizona! My question is this - any advice on some of the more esoteric parts of the area like Havesu Falls? We have a Winnebago View and are fairly self contained and can boondock for moderate periods, but I obviously don't want to drive that and toad on crazy roads.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Steve

[avan]

I thoroughly enjoyed the North Rim from the NP access and especially from the various access points via the Nat'l Forest Service. Spent a week there a couple of months ago and found a nice meadow south of the intersection of Nat'l Forest Road 212 and 217. You can pick up a detailed map of Kaibab NF and the forest roads, trails etc at the NF Center in Jacobs Lake. The rangers there can also pinpoint for you where the best north rim access point are. Those are less traveled. I could spend a day and 100 miles of exploring and maybe come across 2 cars. My rig on site (Google Earth)

[crcr]

We were just there for 5 nights. I recommend you stay in one of the two RV parks inside the Grand Canyon Nat'l Park, one with hookups, one without. Once inside the park, you don't need to drive anywhere. Shuttles throughout the park are free, run about every 15 minutes, and stop right at the edges of each of the RV parks. There are hiking trails everywhere, many along the edge of the Rim with spectacular views and a few trails going down into the canyon.

[2gypsies1]

Havasu Falls can only be reached by hiking 10 miles - one way.

Havasu Falls

If you want to see an absolute gorgeous photo of Mooney Falls which is also around the area, check out the October issue of AZ Highways Magazine. It's stunning!

If you take a raft trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon you can see other lovely falls. We did it on a 9-day trip. Awesome experience.

We've been to the South Rim and enjoy it (off season) but we really like the North Rim for the cooler temps and because it's low-key and less crowded. DeMotte national forest campground is the place to be toward the end of Sept. The fall color of the aspens are gorgeous. Just south of the campground are wonderful places to boondock and you only have to drive 1/2 miles or so on a flat, well-maintained gravel road to start finding spots. Of course, you can stay in the park itself, also.

[steveandjil]

Thanks Folks - anyone ever been to Havesu Falls? Was a New York Times article about it, and it looks wonderful. Pretty remote, I think.

Steve

[eubank]

You know, locating the less traveled areas of the canyon is basically a function of staying away from automobile parking areas. If you walk even a couple hundred yards or so away from any of those areas, you'll find yourself in an area that is very, very much less traveled.

🙂
Lynn

[Lauren]

I am not a big fan of the North Rim (as many know) due to limited visibility to the Grand Canyon but if you have been there before it would be a thing to do with your input. Out of Flagstaff I would also recommend Grand Falls and Walnut Canyon Nat Mon. We will be at those two places in mid Oct.

[WyoTraveler]

how about the north rim?

[TenOC]

TucsonJim wrote:
I highly recommend taking a trip to the North Rim.

Jim

Stop off at Navajo bridge and see the condors in the wild.

[TucsonJim]

I highly recommend taking a trip to the North Rim. I know it's a long haul for most of us Arizona residents, but there is so much to see, and so little of the congestion you get on the South Rim. You can boondock just a few miles north of the canyon too. If you need a place to boondock on the North Rim, send me a PM and I'll send you the coordinates you can put into Google Earth. From our boon docking site, it's only about 10 minutes to the canyon rim.

Jim

[RoyB]

Some folks will setup at a very nice RV PARK in Williams AZ and ride the train up to the Grand Canyon...

Might check in with that?

We have good friends at FLAGSTAFF and the two or three trips we made was home based out of FLAG... There is just too many neat things to see and do around that whole area... Dinosaur tracks to the North, Painted Desert-Meteor Crator-Petrified Forest to the East, RED ROCK Canyons to the South, and Grand Canyon to the West. The Indian RUINS around the NE loop of Flagstaff is great too. You also get to drive on Route 66 as well and get your picture of the whole group standing next to the Route 66 highway sign (A must have photo)... If you want to spend alot money on things there is always SEDONA to take it all from you haha... Don't miss a night on the town in OLD PRESCOTT where two or three of the OLD WILD WEST days Saloons are still working - some still have the bullet holes in the walls... Another really exciting thing to do is RV Camp close to the I40 corridor and have to listen the EAST-WEST RAILROAD all night long. There seems to be a train with a loud whistle about every five minutes all night long hehe...

There is nothing more satisfying then to wake up in the mornings around Sedona and seeing the sun hit the RED ROCKS or looking out to the East from one of the High Indian Ruins in NE Flagstaff (WUPATKI) and watch the slow change over to the Purple and Pink hue from the Painted Desert as dusk approaches......

Way too much to see and do for a quick trip to the Area...

Roy and Carolyn